Meet Me In September....

It looks like the issue of Iraq, the surge, and the funding of a fiasco has officially been placed on the Congressional back burner until September. Its prominence in the news and the American psyche will only grow. Each death from now till Congress takes up the issue will be the price of being reasonable.

I hate it.

If I wanted to be uncivil, I would call this recent vote the steaming pile of rancid wombat shit it is, but we must be civil. We don't want the Times or WaPo to think of us as unwashed, rude, and not in the Washington loop. Frack'em!

How much more does American opinion have to turn on this war or its criminally minded ideologues that forced it? The Bush infestation has shot its load, spent its 5 cents of political capital. It is time to bring our soldiers home!

There are no more excuses.

This is the quandary Congressional Democrats have found themselves in. We are no longer the minority party, that excuse is gone. The whole concept of supporting the troops by keeping them in a crumbling corner of hell was bullshit to begin with. If we approve funding with timetables and benchmarks, and Dimwit McFrackstick doesn't like it, then too bad. That's life baby cakes. Congress holds the purse strings swifty live with it. Thanks for nothing. Waiting till a vote is pointless, when you COULD HAVE led by example is not something to put on your presidential resumes. I don't know if Edwards, if he was still in the senate, would have done something differently, but at least he has been beating the peace drum the most consistently, at least amongst the major candidates.

Okay, with the settling in phase at my new job over, I hope to be posting at my usual rate.

Did He Actually Say This?

Usually Biden's presidential runs or exploratory committees last a few months and then crawl back to the credit card lined walls of their cage. He may have just set a new record for dumbest thing said AND shortest campaign in U.S. history:

Mr. Biden is equally skeptical—albeit in a slightly more backhanded way—about Mr. Obama. “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

But—and the “but” was clearly inevitable—he doubts whether American voters are going to elect “a one-term, a guy who has served for four years in the Senate,” and added: “I don’t recall hearing a word from Barack about a plan or a tactic.”

So dum, it doesn't deserve the dignity of a "b" at the end of the word.

TPM Cafe provides further commentary on this NY Observer article

Universal Health Care

Salon.com via the AP wire reports:

Obama Calls for Universal Health Care
By NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press Writer

January 25,2007 | WASHINGTON -- Every American should have health care coverage within six years, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama said Thursday as he set an ambitious goal soon after jumping into the 2008 presidential race.

"The time has come for universal health care in America," Obama said at a conference of Families USA, a health care advocacy group.

"I am absolutely determined that by the end of the first term of the next president, we should have universal health care in this country," the Illinois senator said.

Obama was previewing what is shaping up to be a theme of the 2008 Democratic primary. His chief rivals, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards, also are strong proponents of universal health care and have promised to offer their plans.

Senator Obama is not the first to make this declaration and he won;t be the last during the coming campaign. I am sure that time frames and details will differ regardless of the details it is about freaking time. This is not only good for members on the lowest end of the economic spectrum it is also a godsend for small business and independent contractors. Additionally large businesses will be able to remove from their bottom line the increasingly expensive cost of providing decent insurance.
The argument against it, particularly on from the Libertarians will be "Taxes!!! Freedom of choice!!! Blah. Blah. Blah." Lets get this straight, Medicare runs more efficiently than most private insurers. Overhead at Medicare is usually around 4%-5% while amongst privates somewhere around 11%. In terms of choice, see what happens with your private insurer when you get REALLY sick. I have see friends and acquaintances be railroaded in terms of provider choices or dropped all together.
Whether it is Obama, Clinton, McCain, or even Huckabee; universal health care is a must and long overdue.